My generous hosts, a wonderful Japanese family, made sure that my stay was taken care of. Not only was the week's worth of homemade Japanese food a welcomed treat, but they accepted me as family. It had been a while since I witnessed a functional family in action and it was a refreshing change, sibling tiffs and all. We spent a lot of family time together, including bonding over Mario Bros. and ridiculous yet oddly amusing J-television. Christmas is no big deal in Japan, but New Year's is huge. Here's a small sample of the traditional food served on New Year's Day:
Being back in the land of contradictions was, appropriately, like living in extremes, much like when I was actually living there. It was a bit surreal going back. It felt like I had never been there and never left at the same time. There were many moments of "Oh yeah, I forgot about that, that's awesome! Why did I ever leave?" and "Oh yeah, I forgot about that, that's ludicrous! Good thing I didn't become a lifer." In between moments of revelation, my time was occupied with catching up with various friends still living the life in the Hello Kitty themed playground. There's nothing like the sight of middle-aged men in expensive suits brandishing a phone with sparkly cartoon charms attached to it. And who can beat the street entertainment here? Check this dude out on the Dotombori bridge:
Speaking of entertainment, here's a band I saw that were absolutely amazing. I think their name is +motion...
That's all that I can manage for now. I will keep you all posted on London happenings on a future date...
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